From Cologne to Mexico

Even as a child, Corina Krawinkel travelled with her mother to London and Paris to visit the Jeu de Paume and the Louvre. The first work she fell in love with in 1986 was a vacuum cleaner bag by Josef Beuys at ART COLOGNE. She then went on to buy works by Zero artists such as Heinz Mack, Otto Piene and Günther Uecker. At the Armory Show in New York, she met entrepreneur and future husband Max Krawinkel at a dinner party, with whom she shares a love of contemporary art. After they married, they combined their two collections into one. It is constantly evolving, which is why the couple sometimes part with certain works.

The Cologne-based dentist now collects contemporary German painting, from the Cologne twins Gert and Uwe Tobias to André Butzer and Jonathan Meese to the colourful squares and grids of Imi Knoebel. She is a member of art and sponsorship circles at Museum Ludwig, Museum für Angewandte Kunst and Kölner Kunstverein, and organises events. Her tours of ART COLOGNE have become legendary. The participants come from her wide circle of friends. In advance, she comes up with inspiring themes such as ‘black’ or ‘women’. The Cologne-Düsseldorf gallery weekend DC Open is also a must for her. She takes her groups by bus to visit ten galleries in Cologne and, a day later, in Düsseldorf, in search of new talent. It is also part of her self-image to have a close relationship with her artists and to accompany their activities and openings.

All these activities would quickly overwhelm most people. But not Corina Krawinkel. In February 2024, in cooperation with Berlin's König Galerie, she took over the management of the branch in Mexico City's trendy Condesa district, which is reminiscent of New York in the 1980s. In addition to several exhibition rooms on two floors, the building also houses a garden and artist residences. The solo and group exhibitions are enriched by artist talks, performances and community events. Under Corina Krawinkel's leadership, König Mexico City aims to deepen its relationships with the local art scene and create an innovative space for contemporary art, collectors, curators and the public.

The first group exhibition, Surreal Surroundings, focused on Mexico's spiritual heritage and the important contribution of its culture to surrealism. Alongside Mexican artists exhibiting at König for the first time, artists represented by the gallery such as Jeppe Hein, Anselm Reyle and Andreas Schmitten were also featured. Most recently, Corina Krawinkel presented a solo exhibition by Saul Josâf, who lives in Mexico City. In his works, he explores the fluid boundaries between space, memory and perception, creating oil paintings that function as thresholds between reality and imagination, in which the viewer's gaze becomes the protagonist.